Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
6712432 | Construction and Building Materials | 2018 | 11 Pages |
Abstract
This paper presents the effects of the specially designed solarcure method on the properties of geopolymer binders. The solarcure method is composed of the box-shaped chamber that works on the principles of trapping solar radiations to regulate the adequate amount of heat and temperature inside the box. Two sets of geopolymer binder mix containing low-calcium fly ash (LCFA) and high-calcium fly ash (HCFA) as a base material was developed. One part of sodium hydroxide (5â¯M and 10â¯M) solution mixed with two parts of sodium silicate was used as an alkaline activator. Mortar cubes of 50â¯mm size were cast and cured in three different regimes; continuous oven (CO) curing, intermittent oven (IO) curing and solarcure (SC) curing were used for the compressive strength test. For constant curing; temperature was maintained at 60â¯Â°C 24-h, whereas in intermittent conditions (IO and SC), samples were cured in three cycles; each cycle was composed of 8â¯h curing then 16â¯h cooling. For IO curing, the oven temperature was maintained at 60â¯Â°C, however for SC curing; the solar-box chamber has achieved maximum inside temperature up to 90â¯Â°C for each curing cycle. Specially designed SC technique caused up-to 56% increase in compressive strength as compared to the compressive strength of CO cured samples. SC curing also improved the microstructure properties and geopolymer reaction product.
Keywords
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Physical Sciences and Engineering
Engineering
Civil and Structural Engineering
Authors
Muhammad Zahid, Nasir Shafiq, Asif Jalal,